Jeremy Pruitt, defensive coordinator for Florida State during its national championship run this past season, is expected to accept the same position at Georgia, multiple sources told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Pruitt, 39, was said to be in Athens Tuesday, where he met with Richt and other members of Georgia’s staff.

This is an interesting move on more than one level, starting with my guess that Pruitt’s going to have a bigger contract than Grantham did.

HCIW…
Jimbo aint going no where with how crap the ACC is. For Pruitt, you come in work for a few years as DC make bank and when Richt retires you are at top the list for being HC if you are doing good.

He was making 500k I think, and is now making eight fitty. So the move was lateral everywhere but in his bank account, which certainly helps explain it. What’s interesting is that FSU didn’t match it(or maybe they were not go en the chance). All the details will come out in time I’m sure…

Prove your bones in the SEC. Jimbo is a jerk. People want to work for Richt. You prove nothing by dominating the ACC. You prove everything by dominating the SEC, especially turning around our dumpster fire D.

Well, shut my mouth. Apparently FSU matched UGA’s offer – and, since Florida has no state income tax, his take-home pay would have been more if he stayed put. Guess he was caught making sexy time with Ann Bowden and had to vamoose pronto.

We hired Erk Russell?
I am estatic and find it hard to believe we did it without paying more than CTG. I hope he is the recruiter we need. And I am encouraged that he also coaches DBs. And I hope Bobo gets a raise.

All good stuff Sugar, but let’s not expect too much, too soon. We don’t have FSU’s talent. We should have, at least very close to it, but we don’t. But better evaluation, especially with DB’s, and recruiting is just down the road, we hope.
~~~

I didn’t think we’d get this guy, but looks like a great hire. I’m a little giddy with excitement about it. I will say, I’m glad it wasn’t Kirby. I just felt like that would have been a hire for the wrong reasons. Welcome to Georgia Jeremy!

If he takes over as the DB coach as well, who handles the OLB? Is Coach O elevated to taking care of the whole unit? If so, then that would leave an opening to hire a ST Coach after all. I know it may be a pipe dream, but still……it bares eatching.

Kirby was a real option. From an insider: Kirby was indeed offered the job last night at 1.6 Million for 5 years. UGA agreed to let him hire his staff AND hire Cochran. This morning he apparently called to say yes……BUT wanted a no buyout clause if he got a HC job in the first 2 years and this is the biggie….he wanted to be told he would be the next head coach. That was the deal breaker. UGA was not willing to do that. As soon as Kirby told CMR he wanted the HCIW title he picked up the phone and called Pruitt and a hand shake deal was complete by lunch time.

According to Bark Madly’s compadre Chip Towers, das NCAA denutted the HCIW fad when it “passed to little fanfare a new bylaw that treats a head-coach-in-waiting like an actual head coach in terms of recruiting contact. A head coach is allowed only a single visit per recruit and cannot leave campus during the the critical spring evaluation period from April 15-May 31. Same now for a head-coach-designate.”

If this bylaw is stil in place (and I don’t want to check because reading bylaws tires me), why would any school hamstring itself by taking away available recruiting opportunities. Why would any applicant (even Agent Smart) ever make such a demand. It not only shows lack of team spirit but also attacks the integrity which is the core of the relentless repetitive recruiting process.

It not believed that Kirby Smart, Alabama’s defensive coordinator, was a serious candidate this time around. Smart, a former Georgia player and assistant coach, came close to returning four years ago but decided to stick around. This time, it appears Richt honed in on Pruitt from the beginning.

I’m not sure what the complete story is, but the idea that Richt called Pruitt in the morning and struck a deal in a couple of hours time strikes me as a bit far-fetched.

Secondary Coach/Special Teams Coach angle.
Recruits currently committed to FSU who were recruited by Pruitt. Other defensive recruits FSU has who may reconsider/follow coach. New UGA recruit leans. New last minute official visits.

Eitherway, UGA can get the players. The front 7 looked promising, the secondary looked out of place and the DC could not teach the scheme at a pace the players could learn. On paper this looks to be a great fit.

“ChimpNole:
We’ll see if any recruits follow. Buck and Kincad here in Atlanta are acting like a couple of giggling school girls after reporting this. ________________________________________
AllstarNole:
Well, they’re forgetting one thing….FSU’s talent level is much higher than uga. I think pruitt is a good coach but lets be honest, he had A LOT to work with at FSU.”

If this is true, it’s big for a # of reasons, the biggest that Pruitt probably has good relationships with South Georgia HS coaches. I know Richt has done well in recent years in Valdosta and Thomasville, but this can’t hurt.

Bald white guy running the defense? I’d say that worked out pretty good for us last time. If he starts head-butting players on the field half the stadium will draw wood, the other half will start throwing panties at the field.

Southwest Georgia HS D players should love this. At least 4 out of 1 6A on FSU roster who played. Hopefully, not only did Pruitt get a “deal deal”, but let’s start paying these coaches. Every position coach should be at $400,000 min, a red pickup truck w/a black tool box, their own apparel line, and etc. . Get him signed and moved.

I said a while back during the discussions of whether to keep TG or not that we needed to go find another Jeremy Pruitt. I never expected we could actually get THE Jeremy Pruitt, I figured FSU would match anything offered, and surely Pruitt would stay if they matched. Glad I was wrong!

Great hire. Will be a national story in all the preseason mags. Can Pruitt help turn UGA into the Beast of the East…and so forth. I’m not sure any school in the SEC has a better set of Coordinators that UGA does now. Maybe LSU?

Funny that Mark Richt can convince Jeremy Pruitt he can coach in about 24 hours but can’t seem to convince half of the commenters on this page of that.

It’s a great day to be a Disney Dawg…why would he leave Tallahassee? Because it is GEORGIA. GEORGIA is a great program, with a great coach, great resources, and great potential. It’s a great day to be a Dawg.

“It’s a great day to be a Disney Dawg…why would he leave Tallahassee?”

Irwin, all good points but your question conclusively demonstrates that you have never had an extended tour of duty in Tallahassee. Why does anyone leave Tallahassee? Why not, because there is always a better place.

I was there and I loved that play (the final score not so much). Sunseri had been talking in the paper all week about he was dreaming about hitting Herschel. Herschel turned those dreams into a nightmare.

A recent report shows the top 25 schools with players in the NFL. USC [west coast version sits atop]. 2 SEC schools and 2 ACC schools in top 10. FSU and Miami are the ACC. LSU in one of the SEC. Other, UGA. Where was that talent used at UGA? Indicates we have the players. Coache? Dawgs in top 5.

It is amusing reading the FSU boards: In a nutshell, here is the reaction from the FSU boards: the UGA job is a huge step down. FSU has double the talent of UGA.. Hard to say how good Pruitt really is given the incredible talent at FSU. And Pruitt has no loyalty leaving after 1 year and dissing the man who gave him a job 3 years out of coaching high school. But not to worry, Jimbo proven to be brilliant at hiring assistants.

There’s still a lot we don’t know about Pruitt, and there are a multitude of issues that must be addressed successfully before the season starts, just to have a chance to be happy this fall. But at least now, there’s a chance that’ll happen, where there was none last week.

If this works out, we’ll need to need to clear a spot for the Bobby Petrino statue, perhaps next to the Iron Horse.

Bloviation for the Dawgnation

Quote Of The Day

“It's definitely different not knowing exactly who it's gonna be, but in a way, I feel like that's good,” he said. “One of my old coaches from Valdosta told me that competition is one of the best coaches. And I feel like, as well as each one of those three guys is performing, they're not gonna do anything but make each other better.” -- Jay Rome, The Red & Black, 3/25/15